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Gunshot not slowing thieves

LANCASTER – Despite a local drive through clerk firing a shot at an armed robber earlier this week, the store continues to report thieves taking merchandise from the store.

Less than a day after Lancaster Police Department detectives launched an investigation into an armed robbery at Center City Drive Thru, 641 N. Columbus St., police were called out again on a report of another theft.

According to the report, three people came into the store and were seen stuffing three cans of snuff and four packs of cigars into their pockets while the clerk wasn’t looking at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The clerk told the owner to check surveillance footage the next day, confirming her suspicions that items had been taken and prompting another police visit. This is the second time the owner had to pull video footage for officers to investigate.

The police department’s Detective Bureau released the video surveillance of the armed robbery and store shooting Thursday, showing the suspect, wearing mostly gray and a mask with two holes for eyes cut out of the material.

The 44-year-old store clerk told 911 dispatchers she “fired one shot” at the masked man carrying a steak knife and missed him, according to police call records.

She asked the dispatchers whether she could relay the man’s details quickly before she forgot, describing him as about 5 feet 7 inches tall with a medium build wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. The drive-thru robbery was reported just before 8:30 p.m. Monday. She told police he ran toward an alley, but officers could not locate the man.

The clerk told police she fired the gun at the man as he ran out of the store, fearing he would come back for her.

“He just came up to the register and he said ‘Give me all your money,’ and I thought it was a joke,” she said in the 911 call. “And then he waved the knife at me and I pulled out the gun and he started running.”

Detective Bureau Sgt. Matt Chambers said the investigation is still ongoing, along with the investigation another robbery involving a man carrying a knife at Fat Cat Pizza, 1415 Sheridan Drive, just after 7 p.m. Sunday, a day before the drive-thru robbery.

“We have nothing concrete to link these two,” Chambers said, adding that there may be no connection but it was too early in the investigation to tell.